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Prediction: Ross Johnston's wholly-owned 49 Hopkins LLC will file for bankruptcy and he will not be held personally responsible to rebuild the house and the lot will remain as pictured. He will walk away with a $1.7+M loss and move on.

If there is a followup to this article in six months, I would love to see someone post it here.

When restrictions are placed on historically significant buildings, the process of securing permits to demolish or alter in any way should be directed by the bureaucracy in such a way that this sort of slipshod enforcement would not happen. Catch it at the beginning, and it might work.

Even the most vigilant bureaucracy can't prevent what happens on the weekend, or at night ? The determined scofflaw perhaps cleaves to the
old saw, that it is better to beg for forgiveness, than to ask for permission . . . ?

Today's SF Chronicle has a front-page story on the current state of affairs. The piece is not yet available online; if it doesn't show up by this evening I will copy and post.

Dion Neutra (92) says he's received 50 messages about the house, and he declares himself willing to assist in reconstruction, if that's what takes place -- which is unlikely for several reasons, of course.

In any event, this will be the first instance in San Francisco history, apparently, where an owner has been made to replace a building that was removed without a permit; in previous cases a fine was levied.

Meigs Field was used by private planes to access downtown Chicago (for business) without the time-consuming commute to Midway or O'Hare fields. The mayor's wife wanted to make it a park, and so it was. A few planes were left stranded, without a runway.

The owner does have a case. If the city had made clear in 2014 that the house was protected, this wouldn't have happened, the permit wouldn't have been approved to expand or demolish. At that time, Johnston apparently believed he had received approval from the city to go forward.

Yeah, getting rid of corporate CEO's private airport and transforming it into a public park and nature area for all to enjoy is definitely an unforgivable act of selfish executive over reach that could not possibly be outdone...